Floating Islands

Floating Islands, originally uploaded by macatay.

Blunden Harbor, Queen Charlotte Strait

N50°50.850

W127°09.599

Echo Bay is a beautiful cove among the islands and channels referred to as the Broughtons. It seems quite sheltered when you are tied up to one of the docks at the small marina there. But when we looked carefully at the chart, and at the surrounding shoreline, we realized that most of the shelter results from a very large concrete float that blocks at least a third of the opening into the Bay. In fact, the float, purchased at salvage, and towed to British Columbia is a remnant section of the Mercer Island Bridge which spanned Lake Washington until it broke apart in a storm in 1990.

Lots of what passes for infrastructure in this part of the world floats: there are floating docks, floating homes, floating resorts. Fish farms are made up of nets suspended from floats, and are tended by guys living in floating dormitories. Whole logging camps, including bunkhouses, cook sheds, dining halls, apartments for the married loggers, and schools for the children exist on barges. Besides the bridge section, Echo Bay has a long row of floating cabins, and two clusters of floating docks. Echo Bay is compact, cozy and secure, but everything that makes it feel that way could be moved away quite quickly.